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It never cease to amaze (and frustrate) me - when ever you think there's something that is good for you - some one else finds it's bad.. Just goes to show how little do we actually know about ANYTHING.. I was under the impression 200mcg of Selenium a day is actually recommended...

The original "Journal of Nutritrion" study seems to be embargoed and not available on the Internet. Although the reports iterate that the "normal" selenium requirement is 75 micrograms for men, there is no discussion about what supplementation might be required for those lacking in "normal" selenium. Discussions of the study point out only that more than 1.20 micromols of PLASMA selenium is dangerous for levels of cholesterol, but they do not address what supplementation level is dangerous.

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"No one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences."--Albert Camus, "The Plague"

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It's certainly a balancing act with respect to selenium. Too much is dangerous, the right amount works wonders, too little is damaging. Consult your physician to see if selenium is right for you. Questions to be answered in the UK study:Can that increase in lipids be contolled by diet and exercise?How deficient were the participants?Would the increase in cd4s and reduction of viral load be worth the lipid increase as long as the lipid problem can be contolled?It's a personal decision. I believe another study done in the US showed Cholesterol levels increased also but unlike the UK study, HDL cholesterol increased also.:

The original "Journal of Nutritrion" study seems to be embargoed and not available on the Internet. Although the reports iterate that the "normal" selenium requirement is 75 micrograms for men, there is no discussion about what supplementation might be required for those lacking in "normal" selenium. Discussions of the study point out only that more than 1.20 micromols of PLASMA selenium is dangerous for levels of cholesterol, but they do not address what supplementation level is dangerous.

Thanks. I wish scientists would agree on what units to use for this kind of tests. I had my plasma selenium level checked 2 years ago. The result was 235 mcg/L , not in micromols. The normal range was listed at 110 to 160, so my level was considered too high .At the time, I was supplementing with 275 mcg selenium. I reduced the supplementation to 200 mcg since (only what's in my multi-vitamin) per my doctor's recommendation. I didn't have my selenium level checked again.

Obviously the right supplementation level will vary among individuals, depending on diet, and how well their body is absorbing the selenium.

My cholesterol went up although my triglycerides went down. (I've been taking 4g of omega-3 and 400 micrograms of selenium a day). I think I will change my selenium dose to 200 micrograms.

Yeah, 400mcg of selenium is definitely too much. It's considered the upper tolerable limit selenium intake from all sources by the institute of medicine. If you supplement that much, you would have to make sure to get none from food. Have your doctor check your blood selenium level. You may want to stop supplementing for a while if your level is elevated before resuming supplementation at 200mcg.

Thanks for this link. I went to check the full text which was available for free at http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/88/2/416 . At least I see comparable units. Their highest quartile for selenium level was >134.7 ng/mL. The unit of ng/mL is the same as mcg/L. My level was 235 mcg/L. So I was way outside the range of their study. And I was supplementing with 275mcg/day only.

Some of the data cited contradicts their conclusions :

"Three small studies conducted in the Netherlands (n = 82) (30), Portugal (n = 126) (15), and Finland and Japan (n = 60) (31) reported no relation between serum concentrations of selenium and total cholesterol. Another small study of Japanese women (n = 127) found a positive relation of serum concentrations of selenium with total cholesterol among premenopausal women but not among postmenopausal women (32). Finally, in 142 women from Korea (16), participants in the highest selenium quartile had lower concentrations of total cholesterol, although the associations were not adjusted by age, and selenium concentrations were inversely related to age in that study. Except in a few small studies that were subject to greater random variability, the association of selenium with total-cholesterol concentrations seems largely consistent across populations."The large study had n=5452.